Sprinkler System Control Box

2,809 Views | 19 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Marvin_Zindler
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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I have been in my current house since 2003. A previous owner had installed a sprinkler system, which has worked for me all these years, until some time last year when I noted that my grass was looking a bit dry. I investigated why and found that my controller box appears to be in the process of dying. The auto scheduling function is dead - nothing shows on the LCD. I can still operate it via the manual watering process, which has allowed me to keep my yard since last year.

So I just bought a replacement box. It is a Rainbird unit, ESP-RZX indoor controller, which is replacing a ESP-6Si unit. There are 6 red wires coming out of the conduit and attached to "station" plugs, as well as the wiring for the power supply. The new unit has similar connections. So am I wrong to think this is going to be a simple job? Disconnect the original, mount the new one to the wall and then attach the power supply then the wiring coming from the stations, plug in and I'm good to go?
Marvin_Zindler
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Why didn't you buy a Rachio?
aftershock
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Did one about a month ago. It's pretty straight forward (at least the one i got was). What you described pretty much sounds right. If all else fails pull up youtube.
Cinco Ranch Aggie
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hodgesco said:

Why didn't you buy a Rachio?
Never heard of that brand. I had a Rainbird and wanted to replace it as easily as I can.
Marvin_Zindler
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As long as the old unit is still installed, number your zone wires and the common wire before you disconnect them from the old box. Then, when you mount the new box, it will be as simple as connecting the common wire and your numbered wires back to the appropriate wire terminals.

If you can, post a picture of the old box and the connection panel for the new one.

Long Live Sully
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Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

hodgesco said:

Why didn't you buy a Rachio?
Never heard of that brand. I had a Rainbird and wanted to replace it as easily as I can.


Buy the Rachio. Just got mine. Hold on while I water the south zone from my phone as I leave dinner.
CapCity12thMan
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Rachio. Give it to him.

Even if you don't get a rachio make sure you get one you can control remotely. too easy to manage your lawn this way.

Marvin_Zindler
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Rachio has changed my life in 2017. I don't really worry about my lawn anymore (partially thanks to following Randy Lemmon).
CapCity12thMan
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My Rachio decided to skip its cycle due to the prediction of .22" of rain today, however the heat lately has really dried things up so I rolled over while in bed and set a couple of my zones to run for 12 minutes and then went back to sleep.

ftworthag02
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The new hunter hydrawise blows away rachio.

Licensed irrigator
Long Live Sully
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ftworthag02 said:

The new hunter hydrawise blows away rachio.

Licensed irrigator
How so?
Enviroag02
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I would guess being that he's a licensed irrigator that having manual setup controls is a real benefit with the Hydrawise. What's best for an irrigator isn't necessarily best for the homeowner. Love my Rachio Gen 2 16 zone!
95_Aggie
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So no one is afraid of Rachio disappearing in a couple of years and taking all of your cloud settings with them? Or getting bought out by one of the big dogs like Rain-Bird or (shudder) Google?
Long Live Sully
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AGnCS said:

So no one is afraid of Rachio disappearing in a couple of years and taking all of your cloud settings with them? Or getting bought out by one of the big dogs like Rain-Bird or (shudder) Google?


It's only $200. If that happens I'll buy the next thing.
dallasiteinsa02
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People said the same thing about NEST. Google only improved the software.
CapCity12thMan
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Quote:

So no one is afraid of Rachio disappearing in a couple of years and taking all of your cloud settings with them? Or getting bought out by one of the big dogs like Rain-Bird or (shudder) Google?

It took me about 30 minutes to set everything up on mine, after about 20 minutes of wiring it up and installing it outside in the weather proof box. I would be disappointed if it suddenly was removed, but the data it takes with it is only valuable to the device...meaning I don't need that data to keep for myself, really. The effort put into it was pretty minimal too.

I think this is the world we live in now - we trust the cloud, but know that change is probably coming. At a <$200 price point, I'm willing to take the risk that in a few years I might have to buy another one. The time spent with it and benefits of it outweigh the pain associated in losing it, IMHO.


My Dad Earl
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For those of you with the Rachio; does it save you money on your water bill? I've been looking in to one.
bco2003
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ol_army12 said:

For those of you with the Rachio; does it save you money on your water bill? I've been looking in to one.
It has functionality to automatically cancel watering if there have been recent rains in the past 24 hours, or forecasted for the future 24 hours. So some savings there.

But, often a big rain >24 hours advance of the watering day will take care of the week's watering. In this case, the Rachio would still water. However, the app has a manual rain skip option, where you can manually select how many days you want to skip watering.

I found with the non-wifi sprinkler controller, I would forget or was too lazy to go to the garage (or was out of town) to cancel the watering, and then still would have to go back later and re-enable it. With the Rachio, from wherever I am, I can skip for X amount of days, and don't have to worry about enabling it again.

So long story short, the combination of the auto-cancel, and manual-cancel has saved me water.
Marvin_Zindler
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Same here. I'm not for sure about the methodology they use to prescribe the proper time to water a given zone based on soil, vegetation, sunlight, and sprinkler head, but I do know that rain skip plus the ability to run a manual skip from my phone has been quite helpful given the sporadic but heay rains Houston has had over the past month.

In my mind, if a new box is going to cost you $75-90, the extra $60 is simply a no brainer.
bco2003
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hodgesco said:

Same here. I'm not for sure about the methodology they use to prescribe the proper time to water a given zone based on soil, vegetation, sunlight, and sprinkler head, but I do know that rain skip plus the ability to run a manual skip from my phone has been quite helpful given the sporadic but heay rains Houston has had over the past month.

In my mind, if a new box is going to cost you $75-90, the extra $60 is simply a no brainer.
Additionally, many municipalities will give a one-time rebate off your water bill for having a smart controller. Frisco gave me $100.
Marvin_Zindler
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In that case, it's even more of a no-brainer.
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